Critical Thinking

“What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else.”
Joseph Campbell

I believe in the importance of diversity, not perfection.


Initially, the academic world teaches us to follow the footsteps of our forefathers and replicate justifiable results -- never do they teach us to be wrong, to seek the incongruities of our society.  Why?  It is the optimal path to completely understanding the mechanisms of our world.  I am not arguing against our education system, but identifying the unfortunate flaws.  Especially in the world of science, the fundamental foundation of principles are the product of successful experiments with reasonable explanations.  The time required to understand these concepts is massive.  The amount of time required to understand the concept and how much exposure to the concept must be optimize in order to efficiently educate a large population.  In other words, we cannot replicate the time spent by past scientists in order to expose their full thought process -- it's kind of like cutting introns from exons on a piece of mRNA.  I believe that the struggles that our forefathers went through, the thought process required to reach their goal, is as important as understanding their principles.  Yes, practical application such as labs help replicate their experiments (the practical application the better), but to begin from a basic idea and flourish into a new realm of thought is beautiful, but difficult.  This is also known as critical thinking.


Critical thinking requires time and guidance.  Understanding basic principles in conjunction with critical thought encourages research, curiosity of the unknown.  The US education is moving towards the right direction as we are in a time of an increasing number of researchers in many fields particularly in natural sciences.  What does this mean?  A higher traffic of idiotic ideas which sooner or later will cause a breakthrough.  Stupid ideas are proportional to breakthroughs.  


A random note,


Dan Huh

A Minority Amongst Minorities

"Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth."
Mahatma Gandhi 

Mahatma Gandhi understood the importance of peace of mind.  Despite the struggles facing a people or an individual, there is always a safe haven: truth.

I decided to attend a Korean Calvary Church to surround myself with my culture -- if I can still call it my culture. To be a part of a Korean service made me feel at home and relaxed, listening to the language I am familiar with -- definitely a change from the University of San Diego scene, however I felt distant from these people.  For the majority of my teenage years, I was subjected to a non-Korean crowd.  Though it was my decision to be in these circumstances, I've always felt like the minority, regardless of the situation.  I took advantage of this position and enjoyed making friends with people unlike myself, but there was always a lingering discomfort.  I craved to be a part of the majority, to live in an environment with no judgment, with no stereotypes.  

Once I entered the University of San Diego, the craving exponentially increased and left me to discover the more diverse side of San Diego.  Not traveling far, I drove 10 minutes to the Korean Calvary Church and was greeted by a small contingent of church-goers (mid-20's).  Embracing the language which my mother taught me, I entered the main sanctuary and began to listen to Pastor Kim's message.  He spoke about the importance of maintaining your composure in times of change and want.   Despite the changes in environment and transitioning into a new location, one must not feel alone.  We have God and we have each other.  Strangers are and will be friends.  I appreciated the message, however I also noticed the interactions and exchanges of word between the people listening to the sermon.  There was an aura about them that I could not relate to, but could understand.  This is the feeling of anxiety.  I felt like an outsider despite the cultural backgrounds we all shared. 

I look like you, but I perceive the world through a different lens.

And so, I felt like a minority in the group of Koreans despite the similarities.  Did this discourage me?  Not at all.  This gave me the will to go out and continue to be a part, if not immerse myself into culture and make it my own, however there is always a battle to fight back at home.

Dan

Success

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."
Martin Luther King Jr.

 

The pursuit of happiness is never a easy road to travel, but worth the sweat and tears.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s words are brutally true.  The recipe for success requires struggle and sacrifice -- a combination of discomfort and passion.  To struggle for progress is perhaps the most aesthetic quality of humanity.  Why is this?  To have the ability to shape one's future within the limitations of the human-being is simply incomprehensible.  How can the human-being create what is unknown to us?  The sciences, the arts;  how can our minds develop these abstract ideas into practice?  Because people across the world have a conviction to understand their existence and pursue knowledge and peace.  The true test of success is convincing the people around us to see life through your lens.  This requires not only an incredible amount of trust, but blind faith for most people.  Conflict occurs when two opposing philosophies clash, when two passionate parties proclaim they possess the truth.  In the end, the victor will be the one who will struggle and suffers the most -- assuming both arguments are valid.  

An incomplete thought,

Dan

I Am a Reflection of You

“It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.”
Albert Einstein

An artistic way to state the First Law of Thermodynamics. 

Reciprocation allows growth for one another.  If the world consisted of only you, you will never grow to understand your surroundings as well as yourself.  The human population is a reflection of you and that is why we have come so far to understand the physics and beauty of this world.  Yes, of course, we are all unique individuals.  Then how are we 'reflections' of each other?  We all have the will, the determination to succeed in our own endeavors and become the most successful individual in the eyes of others, not for pride, but for pure joy for the one's who have placed hope in you. 

Now a leader, an individual who has had many successes and failures in his life, has the obligation to lead those who have previously placed hope in him.  In other words, he must give back, now that he has utilized the investments from others.  From here, the leader inspires the people to go on to do great things and thus new leaders are born.

An incomplete thought,
Dan

Detachment

“To spare oneself from grief at all cost can be achieved only at the price of total detachment, which excludes the ability to experience happiness”
Erich Fromm

The immediate cure to grief is detachment.  To send yourself deep into a void of despair and emptiness protects your thoughts from grief, however detachment also prevents any other emotion to incur, such as happiness.  When in the state of solitude, your humanity ceases to exist and a broken record player will continuously torture your thoughts -- all the happy memories will dissipate into sadness.  In other words, detachment does not serve to completely cure one's grief, however it is the natural step to emotionally heal yourself whether it may be a loss of a loved one or heart-broken.

Once someone goes through detachment, they will encounter a fork in the road: harden your emotions or accept the past and search for something new.  The saddest human-being, personally, is the hardened individual, one who cannot and will not move forward from his current state and refuse to be open-minded.  To refuse the opinion, the company of another, social interaction is simply the epitome of a depressed individual.  The ones who tread this path are the ones who traveled alone without the support of another.  They become hardened through the mind's natural defenses in order to continue living, never giving themselves time to understand the past events. 

With the support of your friends and family, we can move onwards from tragedy.  With the affection of another, we can redirect our grief towards a hope for a better future. 

Trust me,
Dan

No Room For Hate

“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.”
Correta Scott King

 
Hate will never lead to a happy ending.  No matter how much reason one has to despise a task or human-being, hate will blind your humanity and refrain your happiness.  Because our lives are limited and actions are temporary, to bear a repulsive emotion is simply not worth the mental anguish one will undergo.  Should we live in ecstasy? No.  Hate must be used to define our boundaries, but cannot be used to draw the boundaries of others. Our energy should be directed towards the pursuit of happiness and in the end, our lives as well as the lives of the future will thrive in joy.

Why does hate exist if it is not the mode of interest?  Expression and freedom allows us to relieve our suppressed compulsions, our urges and hate is one of the most powerful emotions any human-being may express.  To relieve these urges through hate is an immense stress-reliever, however hate ignites hate in others.  Hate can act as an infectious virus that can invade the minds of an entire people, depriving their ability to function their daily tasks, depriving them from living.

This summer has allowed me to relieve my daily stresses and encouraged me to observe interactions of others as well as my own. More posts will follow soon.

With love,
Dan

Education

"Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity."
Aristotle


In the best of times, in the worst of times, knowledge shines brighter than it's environment.


The most beautiful gift to a human-being is educational independence; someone who will take the effort to cure his curiosity through a book, a teacher, or a friend; it is an endless gift that will forever leave us eager for more.  In our compassionate world we live in, we continuously surge to provide a basic education to all eager eyes to the darkest corners in the world, just so we can give a people the opportunity to become independent in their existence, to strive to answer their common questions.  Because our brains have the uncanny ability to store an unlimited network of information, individuals have the natural urge to learn more, however if the opportunity is not available, they will find other means to stimulate their minds.  That is why it is our duty to globalize information, primarily because we have the technology to transport books and supplements, to share our opinions among other eager in order to generate masses of opinion and in the midst of all the questions, an answer, an undisputed truth.

But if we as a people want to optimize the search for a truth, whether may be in forms of rhetoric or science,  we must globalize education.  We must present the opportunity for underprivileged children to see the expanse of knowledge and the power it contains.  For those with a monetary or situational advantage, take the advantage and nurture it, but because it is humanity's duty to globalize education, be the guide towards this humanitarian goal; if sacrifice is needed, a hero will be discovered, but it is not necessary to do so. 


(Part 1)

Fear

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Amazing how a combination of simple words can inspire a grief stricken nation.

Leaders have the charisma to reshape, repackage their words into beautiful works of art.  Call it romantic, call it inspiring, but it taps into the human soul (a discussion that will be saved for a future post).

Why do humans develop fears?  Speaking in a psychological sense, perhaps they had a traumatizing event in their childhood, if they logically assess their fears as credible threats, or whatever they fear may not stimulate them in any way -- but I will spare you the scientific talk and give you a philosophical spin on it (that's the point of this blog isn't?).  Fear may provide both positive and negative depending on how they rationalize their fears.  Then naturally, someone will ask whether fear defines our humanity, creates individualism, variation amongst us.  Do we need our fears to rationalize our reality?  What if our fears disappeared?  Would we be no better than machines who methodically, mindlessly accomplish our goals?  Fear is a unique emotional mechanism individuals utilize to adapt to uncertain environments -- rationalizing the situation the individual is involved.  A unique form of resisting stresses on our environment; however a safe haven must be established to separate our fears and desires.  If one is subject to fear for extended periods of time, the mind will be rusted, the mind will deteriorate, fear will be forever burnt into the neurons and synapses of the brain.  One cannot function anymore because fear will consume his identity. 

So what is the right balance?  How much can we handle this stress, handle the changes in life?  Should we constantly compete against our fears or should we reevaluate our issues and approach them logically? 

Questions that I need to meditate on and answers I will find.

'Til next time,

Dan